Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.32nd Corn. L.I.78192171Royal Bengal Artillery12521884th York and Lancs (one company)-1128
No fewer than eighty-nine women and children also perished.
Relief of Lucknow by General Sir Henry Havelock.
The most serious problem that faced the Governor-General in India, as soon as the real gravity of the Mutiny was realized, was to effect the relief of the beleagueredgarrisons of Lucknow and Cawnpore, where large numbers of women and children were hemmed in by the mutineers, and were in daily peril of their lives. It was well known that at both places the defences were utterly inadequate, and that the garrisons were all too small. By a fortunate coincidence, a strong force was on its way to China for the purpose of compelling a respect for treaty rights, and the regiments composing that force were stopped at Singapore and diverted to Calcutta. At the same time, the regiment at the Mauritius was despatched with all haste to India, and the return of the two battalions—the 64th (North Staffords) and the 78th (Ross-shire Buffs)—from the Persian Campaign enabled Lord Canning, the Governor-General, to send these up to Allahabad, and so to form the nucleus of a relieving army.
The officer selected for the command of the relieving force was Colonel Henry Havelock, an officer who had recently commanded a brigade in the Persian War. Havelock had seen an immensity of service in India, mostly on the Staff. He had been Adjutant of the 13th Light Infantry, and had served with that distinguished regiment throughout the Burmese War of 1824. In Afghanistan he had earned a Brevet and a C.B. for his exceptional services at the defence of Jelalabad. He had been present at Maharajpore, where he had earned a second Brevet. But he was a disappointed man. Success had come to him late in life, for he had been twenty-three years a subaltern, and had been purchased over times without number.
Immediately on his arrival in Calcutta Havelock learned of his new command, and he at once pushed up to Allahabad to take over charge from Colonel Neill, of the Madras Fusiliers, already at that station. The force was all too weak for the task imposed upon it. It barely numbered 1,350 bayonets, including 500 Sikhs. Its cavalry numbered just twenty sabres, composed of officers of regiments which had disappeared in the storm and afew brave planters. The following are the details of the brigade with which Havelock essayed the relief of Lucknow:
Royal Artillery76men.64th (North Staffords)435"78th (Ross-shire Buffs)284"84th (York and Lancaster)191"Madras Fusiliers376"Ferozepore Sikhs448"Volunteer cavalry20sabres.
Arriving at Allahabad on June 30, Havelock immediately moved forward; but the weather was terrific, and his men suffered much—not only from heat, but also from cholera. Not a day passed without some victim being claimed by one or other of these deadly foes. To-day it was a drummer of the Highlanders, to-morrow the senior Staff Officer of the army. Still, no heart quailed. The danger that faced their countrywomen nerved all, but, alas! their gallant efforts were doomed to failure. When the Nana saw the net closing round him, he gave the order for the murder of the women and children who, trusting to his honour, had surrendered to him at Cawnpore; and when Havelock's force entered the place, they were met with the most ghastly evidence of cruelties which had been perpetrated by the man who for many years professed himself a loyal ally of the English.
Weakened by losses in action, as well as by disease, Havelock was compelled to halt at Cawnpore for reinforcements. These reached him in the shape of the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers)—the Fighting Fifth—from the Mauritius, and six companies of the 90th (Scottish Rifles)—a regiment which, under its Colonel, Campbell, had earned a great reputation for dash in the Crimea. With the reinforcements came the unwelcome news that he had been superseded by Sir James Outram, who was reappointed to his old post of Chief Commissioner of Oude, with the supreme command of all the troops in that province. Sir James, however, with rare self-denial,refused to deprive Havelock of the honour of carrying out the relief, and published an order announcing his intention to act in the ranks of the volunteer cavalry until Lucknow was entered.
It was not until the middle of September that Havelock was enabled to continue his onward march. He was opposed at every step, but the troops would not be denied; and on the 25th of that month a welcome reinforcement of nearly 2,000 fighting men was thrown into Lucknow, and the lives of the sorely-pressed garrison assured.
Havelock lived just long enough to know that his services had been appreciated at last, and that he had been gazetted a Major-General for distinguished service in the field, and raised to the dignity of a K.C.B. The baronetcy conferred upon him was not gazetted until after his death. The final relief I deal with onp. 326. A dark shadow was cast over that glorious achievement. Havelock was able to drag his sorely stricken frame across the breastwork to welcome Sir Colin Campbell and the relieving army, and then, worn out by toil and anxiety, he sank into his grave. In a shady grove of trees hard by the Alumbagh they made his humble tomb, and Campbell, Outram, Inglis, Peel, and many a stout soldier who had followed him in that stern march from Cawnpore, now followed his remains to their last resting-place. So long as gallant deeds and noble aspirations and spotless self-devotion are cherished in our midst, so long will Havelock's lonely tomb, hard by the scenes of his triumphs and of his death, be regarded as one of the most sacred spots where England's soldiers lie.
No sooner was Delhi in our hands than General Wilson, as I have shown onp. 312, despatched a small force towards Agra, where, unfortunately, the civil and militaryauthorities had not shown themselves possessed of those qualities which have built up our Indian Empire. Few indeed were the men that Wilson could spare, but on the morning of September 21 Brigadier Greathed, Colonel of the 8th (King's), now the Liverpool Regiment, marched towards Agra at the head of the little movable column. His force consisted of two troops of horse and one battery of field artillery; the 9th Lancers (300 strong); the 8th and 73rd Regiments, which, in consequence of their heavy losses, only numbered 450 men; four squadrons of the 21st, 22nd, and 25th Cavalry and of Hodson's Horse, the four squadrons some 500 strong; and the 2nd and 4th Punjab Infantry (now the 56th and 57th Rifles). All told, the brigade numbered 800 cavalry, 1,650 infantry, 200 sappers, and 18 guns.
On the 10th of the following month Greathed reached Agra, where he was attacked by the rebels. To their astonishment, these gentry found they had a totally different stamp of men to deal with than the Agra garrison, and Greathed, with the loss of but 13 killed and 54 wounded, drove them off, capturing thirteen guns. During the short halt at Agra, General Hope Grant, Colonel of the 9th Lancers, arrived in camp with some 300 British soldiers, convalescents of the regiments at Delhi, and took over command. Pushing on to Cawnpore, he found a wing of the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) and some men of the regiments which had gone into Lucknow with Havelock.
The relief of Lucknow was now the principal objective, and Hope Grant, in obedience to orders received from Calcutta, moved towards that city, halting at Bhantira until the arrival of Sir Colin Campbell, who, on the first news of the Mutiny reaching England, had been sent out to assume the post of Commander-in-Chief in India. The new Chief possessed the confidence not only of the Ministry in England, but of every man in the army. Probably he was the most deservedly popular General who had up till then ever commanded an army in thefield. He had a wide experience of war. As a subaltern he had served in the Peninsula, been repeatedly mentioned in despatches for gallantry—a rare thing to happen to a subaltern in Wellington's days. He commanded a regiment in China in the war of 1842, a brigade in the Punjab Campaign of 1849, was in chief command in many of the early expeditions on the Punjab frontier, and was one of the very few General Officers who emerged from the Crimean War with enhanced credit. The vast majority of the reinforcements despatched from England for the suppression of the Mutiny had served in the Crimea, and to them the name of Colin Campbell was that of a man who could lead and whom they were proud to follow.
FIELD-MARSHAL COLIN CAMPBELL: LORD CLYDE.To face page 324.
FIELD-MARSHAL COLIN CAMPBELL: LORD CLYDE.To face page 324.
FIELD-MARSHAL COLIN CAMPBELL: LORD CLYDE.To face page 324.
To face page 324.
On November 9 Sir Colin arrived at Bhantira, and assumed the command of the army. Sir Colin was fully alive to the imperative necessity of withdrawing the beleaguered garrison from its perilous position at Lucknow. Sir James Outram, who, as I have shown, assumed command on reaching the Residency, was besieged by a disciplined army numbering 60,000 men. He was encumbered with 1,500 sick men, women, and children, and the Residency, over which our flag had been kept flying for thirteen weary weeks, was but an ordinary Indian building, commanded on all sides by masonry palaces, which had been converted into siege-batteries. To carry through this formidable task Sir Colin had but 4,500 men, distributed as under:
Cavalry Brigade—Brigadier Little (9th Lancers): Two squadrons 9th Lancers, one squadron 21st Daly's Horse, one squadron 22nd Sam Browne's Horse, one squadron 25th Cavalry, one squadron Hodson's Horse.
Cavalry Brigade—Brigadier Little (9th Lancers): Two squadrons 9th Lancers, one squadron 21st Daly's Horse, one squadron 22nd Sam Browne's Horse, one squadron 25th Cavalry, one squadron Hodson's Horse.
These native troops were under Lieutenants Watson, Probyn, Younghusband, and Hugh Gough respectively, and it is worthy of note that of these four subalterns one (Younghusband) was killed; the other three were all wounded in action, and all three lived to wear the Victoria Cross and the Grand Cross of the Bath.
Artillery Brigade—Brigadier Crawford, R.A.: Two troops of Bengal Horse Artillery, two batteries of Field Artillery, two companies of Royal Artillery, eight guns of the Naval Brigade under the gallant Sir William Peel, with 250 seamen and Marines.First Brigade—Brigadier Adrian Hope: 93rd Highlanders, a wing of the 53rd (Shropshires), and the 57th Wilde's Rifles.Second Brigade—Brigadier Greathed: 8th (King's Liverpool Regiment), a battalion made up of detachments of British regiments in Lucknow, and the 56th Punjab Rifles.Third Brigade—Brigadier Russell: 84th Regiment, 23rd (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), and two companies of the 82nd (South Lancashires).
Artillery Brigade—Brigadier Crawford, R.A.: Two troops of Bengal Horse Artillery, two batteries of Field Artillery, two companies of Royal Artillery, eight guns of the Naval Brigade under the gallant Sir William Peel, with 250 seamen and Marines.
First Brigade—Brigadier Adrian Hope: 93rd Highlanders, a wing of the 53rd (Shropshires), and the 57th Wilde's Rifles.
Second Brigade—Brigadier Greathed: 8th (King's Liverpool Regiment), a battalion made up of detachments of British regiments in Lucknow, and the 56th Punjab Rifles.
Third Brigade—Brigadier Russell: 84th Regiment, 23rd (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), and two companies of the 82nd (South Lancashires).
To keep open communication with Allahabad and Calcutta, Sir Colin had left General Wyndham at Cawnpore with a force of British troops. Wyndham had earned a great reputation for coolness under fire at the storming of the Redan, but he had no experience of Indian warfare, and had never exercised an independent command in his life. At Cawnpore he did not show to advantage as a commander.
During Sir Hope Grant's halt prior to Sir Colin's arrival the most energetic measures had been adopted to obtain the necessary carriage to enable the Commander-in-Chief to carry out his design of withdrawing the garrison, so that, on his assuming command, all was ready for an immediate advance; and on November 17, after some hard fighting, which entailed a loss of 45 officers and 496 men killed and wounded, the relieving force entered the Residency, and the garrison was saved. Ten days subsequently the evacuation of the Residency had been successfully accomplished, and the whole force wasen routefor Cawnpore, where Wyndham had suffered a sharp reverse at the hands of the mutinous Gwalior contingent.
When Sir Colin Campbell withdrew the garrison from the Residency, he felt that but half of his task was done. His force was not strong enough to warrant his attacking the mutineers, and so crushing the rebellion in Oude.This must be left until the arrival of the reinforcements from England, and undertaken when he was not hampered with a large convoy of sick and wounded, women and children. In order to maintain a certain hold on the country around Lucknow, Sir Colin left Sir James Outram with a considerable force to occupy the Alumbagh—an old shooting-lodge of the Kings of Oude, situated in a park about three miles from the suburbs of Lucknow. Outram's force numbered over 4,000 men, and comprised the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers), 75th (Gordon Highlanders), 78th (Seaforths), 90th (now the Scottish Rifles), and the 2nd Bengal Fusiliers (now the 2nd Munsters), with 450 gunners of the Bengal Artillery and 150 sabres. Opposed to Outram were, according to his report, no less than 96,000 armed men; and from the end of November, when the Residency was evacuated, until March 21, when Sir Colin finally defeated the mutineers and retook Lucknow, Outram's force was practically besieged in the Alumbagh.
The months of December, 1857, January, February, and March, 1858, were occupied in preparing for the final advance on Lucknow and the break-up of the many bodies of mutineers scattered over Oude, Bundulcund, and the North-West Provinces. Reinforcements were daily arriving from England, but it was not until the beginning of March that Sir Colin was able to commence his advance on Lucknow. His army now numbered upwards of 20,000 men, with 180 guns. Never in the history of India had such a large number of British troops taken the field.
The Cavalry Division, under Sir Hope Grant, included the Queen's Bays, 7th Hussars, 9th Lancers, Hodson's Horse, Daly's Horse, Sam Browne's Horse, and the 25th Cavalry, in addition to the division under Outram.
The Second Division, under Sir Edward Lugard, was composed of the Third Brigade (Brigadier Guy)—34th, 38th, and 53rd Regiments; Fourth Brigade (Adrian Hope)—42nd, 93rd, and 57th Wilde's Rifles.
The Third Division, under General Walpole, comprised the Fifth Brigade (Brigadier Douglas)—23rd, 79th, and 1st Munster Fusiliers; Sixth Brigade (Horsford)—2nd and 3rd Battalions Rifle Brigade and 56th Rifles.
The artillery was under the command of Sir Archdale Wilson, who had been made a K.C.B. for the capture of Delhi.
Casualties at the Relief of Lucknow by Havelock.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.5th Northumberland Fus.12232964th N. Staffs.1378178th Ross. Buffs26478584th York and Lancaster24255590th Scottish Rifles473962102nd R. Dublin Fusiliers14338314th Ferozepore Sikhs-1737
Casualties at the Relief of Lucknow by Sir Colin Campbell, November, 1857.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Staff26--Naval Brigade134179th Lancers----Royal Artillery161459Roy. Engineers-13175th Fusiliers--538th King's---123rd R. Welsh Fusiliers-131853rd Shropshire L.I.-3106364th Regiment--4782nd Regiment1111384th Regiment--1890th Light Inf.1362293rd H'landers273362102nd R. Dublin Fusiliers1-31221st Cavalry--2322nd Sam Browne's H.--1225th Cavalry---356th Punjab R.1151857th Wilde's R.121350
Casualties at the Siege and Capture of Lucknow, March, 1858.
Force employed.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Naval Brigade11113The Bays11257th Hussars-3-39th Lancers-114Royal Artillery13633Roy. Engineers3319345th Fusiliers-1-310th Lincolns-142320th Lancs F.-272823rd R. Welsh Fusiliers-342534th Border---438th S. Staffs-312242nd Royal Highlanders-153953rd Shropshire L.I.-212778th Seaforth Highlanders---179th Cameron Highlanders-272190th Scottish Rifles-152893rd Sutherland Highlanders22125997th Royal W. Kent1-221Rifle Brigade (two batts.)12-1922nd Sam Browne's Cav.-11925th Cavalry-1-656th Punjab R.1183257th Wilde's R.13930
The regiments authorized to bear this distinction are the
8th Hussars.12th Lancers.14th Hussars.17th Lancers.Inniskilling Fusiliers.South Staffords.Sherwood Foresters.Highland Light Infantry.Seaforth Highlanders.Royal Irish Rifles.Connaught Rangers.Leinster.30th Gordon's Horse.31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers.32nd Lancers.33rd Q.O. Light Cavalry.2nd Q.O. Sappers and Miners.3rd Sappers and Miners.2nd Q.O. Light Infantry.44th Merwara Infantry.61st Pioneers.79th Carnatic Infantry.96th BerarInfantry.98th Infantry.104th Wellesley's Rifles.110th Mahratta L.I.112th Infantry.113th Infantry.124th Baluchis.125th Napier's Rifles.
Although as a whole the Princes of Central India remained loyal to our rule, their armies threw in their lotwith the mutineers, and the honour "Central India" was conferred on the regiments which were employed in stamping out rebellion in those provinces during the winter of 1857-58 and in the ensuing hot weather. A number of independent columns were so engaged, but the brunt of the fighting fell on the troops under that dashing leader Sir Hugh Rose, afterwards Lord Strathnairn. The capture of Kotah, Jhansi, Calpee, and Gwalior all bear witness to the heroism of our troops and to the sufferings they endured during that terrible hot-weather campaign of 1858, when men died of cholera and of sunstroke by hundreds, and when the survivors struggled on manfully to retain our hold on Hindustan.
The rapidity of the movements of Sir Hugh Rose has often been held up as a contrast to the slowness of those of Sir Colin Campbell, but it must be borne in mind that when Sir Hugh took the field the back of the Mutiny had been broken. His duty was to hunt down and to destroy all bodies of armed rebels in the field, and right nobly did he perform his task. Sir Colin had to organize a force for the relief of Lucknow (where close on 300 women and children were besieged), to break the power of the rebel army in Oude, and to maintain peace in Bengal. His one line of communications was a narrow strip of railway open to destruction at many points, and he had in the field against him over 100,000 trained troops, possessed of large stores of arms and munitions. The tasks before the two Generals were entirely different. Whether, had Sir Colin been in command in Central India, he would have acted with the rapidity that Sir Hugh showed is a mere matter of opinion. This much is certain—that Sir Hugh never could have achieved success had not Northern India been in our hands, and that it was in our hands was due first to the gallantry of the Delhi Field Force, and secondly to the well-organized, if slowly carried out, campaign by which Sir Colin swept the rebels out of Oude.
The Central India Campaign divides itself into anumber of well-executed operations in different parts of the country. First we may take the Malwa Field Force, under Brigadier C. S. Stuart, which consisted of the 14th Hussars, 86th (Royal Irish Rifles), 3rd Hyderabad Cavalry, and 125th Napier's Rifles, which was in the field from July to December, 1857.
Casualties in Central India.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.8th Hussars-9183412th Lancers-121614th Hussars14157317th Lancers-1211Royal Artillery261137Roy. Engineers----71st High. L.I.1191572nd Seaforth Highlanders-131483rd R. Irish Rifles2172886th R. Irish Rifles1102610988th Connaught Rangers-275495th Derbys274373rd Madras Eur. (2nd Innis. F.)--3123rd Bomb. Eur. (2nd Leinst.)-6179230th Gordon's Horse-171831st Lancers1461932nd Lancers1331233rd Q.O. Light Cavalry-24152nd Q.O. Sap. and Miners146293rd Sappers and Miners-121144th Merwara Infantry----61st Pioneers--2579th Carnatic Infantry-432796th Berar Inf.21142298th Infantry-1732104th Wellesley's Rifles-1513110th Mahratta L.I.-1222112th Infantry1136113th Infantry--214124th Baluchis-11220125th Napier's Rifles261137
Then we have Sir Hugh Rose commanding two brigades, the one under the same Brigadier C. S. Stuart, the other under Colonel Stewart, of the 14th Hussars. His first act was to relieve Saugor, then defended by the 2nd Queen's Own Rajput Light Infantry. A Madras column had been toiling up to effect this, but General Whitlockwas impeded by many obstacles. In April Sir Hugh carried Jhansi by storm; in May Calpee was taken; and then the General was reinforced by a column from the north, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir Robert Napier (afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala). In June Gwalior was recaptured, and with this the real operations of the Central India Field Force came to an end, though the appearance in the field of a rebel General, Tantia Topee, and the assumption of the title of Peishwa by the notorious Nana Sahib compelled the Commander-in-Chief once more to organize a number of flying columns, whose work procured for the regiments which composed them the battle honour "Central India."
I have found it an impossible task to ascertain the losses suffered by some of the regiments. The casualties given in the table onp. 331show, however, that the distinction "Central India" was not earned without hard fighting.
These two distinctions are the peculiar property of the 45th Rattray's Sikhs, and demand a passing notice.
When the Mutiny broke out, there was but one British regiment in the long stretch of nearly a thousand miles between Calcutta and Lucknow—the 10th Foot, at Dinapore. Here, too, was a large native garrison—the 7th, 8th, and 40th Regiments of Bengal Infantry. Dinapore is the military cantonment of the city of Patna, the hot-bed then of Wahabiism, with a population of 150,000, of whom some 38,000 were Mussulmen. It is the capital, too, of the province of Behar, the centre then of the indigo trade, and the home of a number of English planters—gentlemen and sportsmen, whose sporting instincts stood England in good stead in that hour of trial.
The General at Dinapore had plenty of warning as to the temper of his troops and of the neighbouring population, but no measures were taken to deal with the crisis; and when the sepoy garrison mutinied, the men wereallowed to leave the station unmolested. A few hours later a feeble attempt was made to follow them up, but the detachment of the 10th (Lincolns) returned to Dinapore, having failed to overtake the mutineers. These marched at once on Arrah, a civil station, the head of the railway engineers, some twenty-five miles distant. There, fortunately, were a handful of Englishmen unfettered by red tape. Herewald Wake, the Commissioner, and Vicars Boyle, the railway engineer, had foreseen the coming storm, and, to meet it, had converted the billiard-room in Boyle's garden into a little fort, in which ammunition and provisions had been stored. Its garrison consisted of sixteen Englishmen, one Moslem gentleman, and fifty men of Rattray's newly-raised regiment of Sikhs.
On the 27th the Dinapore garrison—three regiments of sepoys, reinforced by a disaffected Rajput, Rajah Kunwar Singh, who possessed two pieces of artillery—appeared on the scene, and demanded the surrender of the treasure. On that day the siege commenced in earnest.
Two days afterwards the Brigadier at Dinapore sent out a force, consisting of some men of the 10th (Lincolns) and 37th (Hampshires), to relieve Arrah. The affair was mismanaged from the outset, and the column was driven back with heavy loss. Fortunately, there was a man at hand capable of dealing with the situation. Major Vincent Eyre, of the Bengal Artillery, was bringing up his battery to the aid of Havelock, and, hearing of the distress of the little garrison in Arrah, he undertook its relief. With but 150 men of the Northumberland Fusiliers, 40 of his own battery, and 18 gallant planters, who for the nonce converted themselves into a corps of cavalry, he attacked the besieging force, and after a sharp fight was enabled to bring off the garrison without loss. The siege lasted but five days, but the devotion of the 45th Sikhs and the gallantry of Vicars Boyle and Herewald Wake stand out in striking contrast to the supineness of the military authorities at Dinapore.
For many months subsequently the 45th were employedin hunting down rebels in the province of Behar, unsupported by any British troops, and for these services, in which the men were exposed to many attempts on their fidelity, the 45th bear the word "Behar" on their colours and appointments. Their losses during these operations were unusually severe, 2 British officers and 43 of all ranks having been killed or died of wounds, and 1 native officer and 75 other ranks having been wounded.
It is impossible to close this chapter without adverting to the injustice meted out in the distribution of the battle honours for the Indian Mutiny. Every regiment that served on the line of communications in Afghanistan or in South Africa has been granted a battle honour. The regiments which maintained peace in the Punjab, which disarmed mutinous soldiery, which hunted down rebels in Lower India, have been denied all share in the distinctions granted for the Mutiny. The Inniskilling Fusiliers at Peshawar, the 24th (South Wales Borderers) at Jhelum, the 81st (Loyal North Lancashire) at Lahore, the 13th (Somerset Light Infantry) at Azimghur, all contributed to the maintenance of our hold on India, and many of these regiments suffered severely in action.[25]It is not too much to say that, had it not been for the 81st at Lahore, we should never have held the Punjab. The conduct of this regiment at the disarming of the native garrison at Meean Meer was one of the finest feats in those dark days. Again, what are we to think of the failure to recognize the conduct of the 31st (now the 2nd Queen's Own Rajput Light Infantry) at Saugor, where they defended a large number of Englishwomen and children? There was no stiffening of British bayonets, as at Lucknow or at Cawnpore, but there were a number of British officers who had earned the confidence of their men; and when the mutinous 42nd Bengal Infantry endeavoured to seduce the then 31st Bengal Infantry from their duty, the answerwas not merely a refusal, but the regiment, under its own native officers, sallied out from the fort at Saugor, attacked their mutinousbhaibunds, drove them off in confusion, and captured a couple of guns. For the defence of Arrah by one weak company, the 45th Sikhs bear on their colours the honour "Defence of Arrah." Was the defence of Saugor one whit less deserving of reward?
Victoria Crosses for the Mutiny.
Queen's Bays27th Hussars28th Hussars59th Lancers1214th Hussars117th Lancers1Royal Artillery19Royal Engineers8Northumberland Fusiliers310th (Lincolns)313th (Somerset L.I.)223rd (Royal Welsh Fus.)232nd (Cornwall L.I.)434th (Border Regiment)142nd (Royal Highlanders)843rd Light Infantry152nd (Oxford L.I.)253rd (Shropshires)560th (King's Royal Rifles)861st (Gloucesters)164th (North Staffords)171st (Highland L.I.)172nd (Seaforth H'landers)175th (Gordons)378th (Ross-shire Buffs)884th (York and Lancaster)686th (Royal Irish Rifles)490th Light Infantry693rd (Highlanders)795th (Derbyshires)1101st (Royal Munsters)4102nd (Royal Dublin Fus.)4103rd (Royal Munster Fus.)1109th (Royal Leinster)1Rifle Brigade3
BATTLE HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN CHINA, 1842-1900
Chinese War of 1840-1842—Canton—China, 1857-1860—Taku Forts—Pekin—China, 1900—Pekin, 1900.
This distinction was conferred on the regiments which participated in the first China War, under Sir Hugh (afterwards Lord) Gough, and is borne by the
Royal Irish.Cameronians.Border Regiment.Royal Berkshires.North Staffords.2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.62nd Punjabis.66th Punjabis.74th Punjabis.
The first China War, generally known as the "Opium War," while not entailing any very severe fighting, cost us many hundred lives, owing to the neglect of the most elementary precautions on the part of the officials who were responsible for the fitting out of the expedition. The actualcasus belliwas the refusal of the Chinese Government to permit the importation of opium into the Empire. British merchants had been in the habit of importing the drug from India, and large fortunes had been amassed in this trade. When the edict was issued, there were large stocks of the drug in the warehouses of our fellow-countrymen, and its seizure entailed, it is said, a loss of £3,000,000. The British Commissioner on the spot insisted on the right of disposing of the opium, but the Chinese authorities put this beyond a doubt by destroying the forbidden article. We then demanded compensation, which wasrefused, and a force was despatched from India to enforce satisfaction and pecuniary compensation. This consisted of the 18th (Royal Irish), the 26th (Cameronians), and the 49th (Royal Berkshires), with a battalion of Bengal infantry, composed of volunteers from the whole of the Bengal army. Chusan was occupied with but little loss, and the Viceroy of the province sued for peace. Terms were arranged, the Chinese ceding Hong-Kong and paying an indemnity of 6,000,000 dollars. Grave doubts were felt as to the permanence of this arrangement, and our troops occupied certain points in the country. No efforts were made to provide them with suitable clothing or food, and the mortality was appalling, the Cameronians losing no less than 286 men between July 1, 1840, and January 1, 1841.
Early in 1841, weary of the vacillation of the Chinese, the British Government sent out considerable reinforcements, and Lieutenant-General Sir Hugh Gough was placed in supreme command. His little army was thus composed:
First Brigade—Major-General Lord Saltoun: 26th (Cameronians), 98th (North Staffords), and Bengal Volunteers.Second Brigade—Major-General Schoedde: 55th (Border Regiment), 2nd (now the 62nd), 6th (now the 66th), and 37th Regiments of Madras Native Infantry.Third Brigade—Major-General Bartley: 18th (Royal Irish), 49th (Royal Berkshires), and 14th (now the 74th) Madras Infantry.
First Brigade—Major-General Lord Saltoun: 26th (Cameronians), 98th (North Staffords), and Bengal Volunteers.
Second Brigade—Major-General Schoedde: 55th (Border Regiment), 2nd (now the 62nd), 6th (now the 66th), and 37th Regiments of Madras Native Infantry.
Third Brigade—Major-General Bartley: 18th (Royal Irish), 49th (Royal Berkshires), and 14th (now the 74th) Madras Infantry.
Early in May, 1841, the forts at the entrance of the Canton River were bombarded and captured. The fleet then passed up the river, and on May 24 Canton itself was taken, after slight resistance, our losses being 14 killed and 91 of all ranks wounded. In the month of August Amoy was occupied, and in October Chusan was reoccupied, our losses being an officer and 19 men killed and wounded.
The winter of 1841-42 was spent in fruitless negotiation, and with the opening of the spring Sir Hugh Gough recommenced operations. In March, 1842, Ningpo was taken, and in the month of May Chapoo was captured,after a sharp fight, in which our losses were 6 officers and 51 of all ranks killed and wounded. In the month of July the fleet pushed up the Yangtse Kiang River, with a view of showing the Chinese that we could and we would reach the very heart of their country. A more determined resistance was met with at Ching-Kiang-Foo, which was carried with a loss of 13 officers and 111 of all ranks. This broke the back of the war-party. Emissaries came in suing for peace. The fresh terms included a war indemnity of 21,000,000 dollars and the opening of a number of ports to free and unrestricted trade.
List of Casualties.